Ranger Danger: Blackburn’s Solo Touring Program

Words by Courtney Léwis

Gratitude and anxiety make for an interesting mix, but there’s little room for other emotions when you’re flying cross-country to collect an incomprehensible amount of gear from strangers sending you off on a solitary 1,800 mile tour.

Kitsbow clothing has been such an incredible comfort on this tour. Warm in the north, cool in south.

For the past four years Blackburn Design has sponsored six cyclists to tour two Adventure Cycling Association routes across North America: the Pacific Coast and Great Divide. This year Blackburn added the TransAmerica Trail to the program, for a collective total of 8,851 miles of gravel, dirt, and road. At its heart, Blackburn is an adventure cycling company: if your gear can survive extended self-supported tours, then it’s going to make it on the road with recreational riders and commuters. It’s the daily beating over years of use, and packed into a few months, that really tests the strength of your equipment.

Riding down the Oregon coast is so gorgeous, and it’s marked for cyclists the entire way.